2026-06-28 17:01:30
Our subscriber base has grown so much since we first started nine years ago, that most of you have missed all our earliest recommendations. The best of these are still valid and useful, so we’re trying out something new — Retro Recomendo. Once every 6 weeks, we’ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one theme from the past 10 years.
I wish I had realized years ago that you can get scuba masks with inexpensive prescription lenses. My wife needs heavy duty glasses, with severe -10 corrections, and was otherwise blind underwater. But she got a great simple diving mask with -10 lenses for $60. This Promate Slender Mask is available with Rx lenses from GetWetStore. Now she can snorkel with the rest of us. — KK
Hiking poles give me two extra legs. They are most useful going downhill, over uneven or wet terrain. I bring them wherever I hike, especially when I travel, because I use a collapsible set that folds up to less than 14 inches (36 cm). That not only fits in carry-on luggage, it will also hide away in a day pack, so I can take them out only when needed. These no-name $26 Covacure Trekking Poles are a bargain and pretty typical of the class: lightweight aluminum, unfold in a second, and are very rigid. You can get featherweight carbon fiber if you want to pay more. — KK
After a couple of years of walking five miles a day on my treadmill desk, my knees and feet were starting to feel worse for wear. I read Craig Mod’s recommendation for TSLA lightweight trail running shoes with a wide toebox and high-quality insoles and bought them. A month later, I’m pleasantly surprised that my knee and feet pain is gone. I just bought a second pair in another color because I don’t want to wear any other shoe. — MF
Last week, Southern California experienced a heavy rainstorm that caused a power outage in our area for 18 hours. We would have been in the dark without the Goal Zero Lighthouse 600 Camping Lantern. It features a bright and adjustable LED light, as well as a built-in lithium battery that can charge smartphones and other USB devices. In case of a power failure, the lantern can also be powered manually by turning a crank for one minute, which provides 10 minutes of illumination. — MF
My current go-to hiking hat is the Parapack P-CAP—an adjustable, foldable cap that’s so breathable and lightweight it barely feels like I’m wearing anything. It also looks better than most of my sun hats and is far less bulky. I keep it in my purse now because it packs down so small. You can even fold it into a compact pouch. — CD
For walks and shorter hikes, I’ve been skipping my daypack in favor of ChicoBag’s water bottle sling. It’s comfortable, easy to wear, and has a surprisingly roomy pocket for my phone and keys. Like most ChicoBags, it folds down to almost nothing, so I just keep it with me at all times. — CD
The BBC exposed scam call center workers laughing as they tricked victims on hidden camera. One bragged about making $250k. The reason they find targets so easily? Your personal data is sold by brokers online. Incogni removes it automatically, monitors new exposures, and keeps deleting it. Protect yourself today and get 58% off with code RECOMENDO.
Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message — a UCSD physics professor’s free weekly newsletter on cosmology, AI, & ideas that matter. From the host of Into the Impossible. No dumbing down, no clickbait. Join 30,000+ curious minds who want the frontier tools, not the hype. Join here.
Strange way to earn cashback: this person just saw his hotel cashback jump from $120 to a massive $1,500. Tagpeak gives shoppers cashback with stock-market upside. No extra cost. No user investment. Guaranteed minimum reward. Use it this summer!
Plain-English protection for Windows and Android. I point people to VSS Security when they tell me they’re nervous about scams but glaze over at tech talk. It’s cost-effective and easy.
“Works in Progress is a beacon of light in what often feels to me like a hopeless intellectual and political scene.” – Mark P. (Subscriber) | Tech. Science. Urbanism. Policy. The new intellectual canon starts here. Long-form. Data-obsessed. Six beautiful print issues a year.
Recomendo Ads work! Reach over 128,000 subscribers for just $350.
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.
2026-06-21 17:02:21
If you find any value in our little hand-written, hand-crafted, mostly free newsletter, the best thing you can do for us in return is to refer Recomendo to your friends. Because our casual suggestion might not be sufficient, we have added a tangible incentive: subscriber referral rewards. When you share Recomendo with friends who sign up using your unique link (at the bottom of every email), we will reward them with our free newsletter and reward you with some special thank‑yous.
At 4 referrals, you’ll receive an exclusive post, Things That Should Be Better Known — a curated PDF guide to our own most dependable, most used, favorite products that should be better known.
At 7 referrals, you’ll get an invitation to join one of our live quarterly AMA office‑hours calls, where you can ask us anything.
At 10 referrals, we’ll send you a personalized doodle from us as a small, distinctive unique hand‑made thank you.
Your personal referral link lives at the bottom of each Recomendo newsletter email. Forward the issue to anyone you think would enjoy useful recommendations every week, and suggest they sign up. If they do, we will keep track and thank you with a flourish of small favors.
Before I edited Wired magazine, I edited the Whole Earth Review (formerly CoEvolution Quarterly). It was a magazine for conceptual news. We published new ideas. Since its demise, blogs and Substack in general have taken up that role. But starting a few years ago, a new magazine has appeared that is the closest replacement to Whole Earth. Called Works in Progress, published by the payments company Stripe, its mission is to disseminate “new and underrated ideas to improve the world.” Broadly the articles cover technology, science, building stuff, policy, and cultural innovations, but always with a slant on making progress, moving forward, a sense of optimism about what is possible. They publish new ideas. A couple of examples from recent issues: vaccinating wild animals, creating a rat-free city, using micro-bubbles to deliver drugs. Works in Progress is the only magazine I get delivered on paper; I enjoy reading its designed pages, and getting the extra bits you don’t get online. All the main articles are online for free, and also available as a Substack subscription. Their treasure trove of back issues has more new ideas per minute than anywhere else I know. — KK
Bless the bird lovers who take the time to make lists like this. Robert Francis ranked the 100 greatest bird names of all time, and my affinity for the bird kingdom keeps deepening the more I meet. They’re all so cute, and I wish I could hold them rather than scroll through them. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but based on names and cuteness combined, #96 Handsome Fruiteater beats out the rest. — CD
My next-door neighbor has one of water fountains for pets says his cats love it. Cats seem to be naturally drawn to the sound and look of running water, and they’ll often drink from a fountain when they’d ignore a regular bowl. This one is made of stainless steel, so there are no seams or plastic crevices for bacteria to hide in, and it’s dishwasher-safe for easy cleaning. It holds 74oz, enough to keep multiple cats watered for days, and a window on the side lets you check the level without lifting the lid. The 5V pump runs quietly, and it comes with three activated-carbon filters. — MF
This is fun, and worth a few minutes glance: Creativity in the form of archived web pages from the dawn of the internet. When the web was first sprung upon the world in the 1990s, anybody could make a website themselves, but no pages had yet been made so there was no agreement on what a website should look like, then suddenly a million people created millions of websites without designers, but stuffed with colors, fonts, icons, animations, pictures, infinite scrolls, no limits. The exuberance is boundless. Someone selected the best from this wild big bang and merged it into one page. It’s our era’s folk art. — KK
I am a crystal collector, although for legitimacy purposes I’d rather call them mineral specimens, and they deserve to be on display, not in a drawer or crowded on a shelf. Art Display Essentials is a great source for museum quality stands, with pricing comparable to other online storefronts. Highly recommend if you’re an amateur collector who wants to level up their setup. — CD
Electronics for Kids, a new book by Øyvind Nydal Dahl's, starts with the basics — making a battery from a lemon, turning a bolt into an electromagnet — then moves into soldering real circuits, and finally into digital electronics, introducing logic gates and memory circuits before culminating in an LED reaction game that tests how fast you can catch a blinking light. The illustrations are clear throughout. Despite the title, I'd recommend it for adults as well as kids. — MF
Recomendo Unclassified Ads work! Reach over 128,000+ subscribers for just $350.
Audiologists Are Stunned By This Tiny Hearing Innovation. Most hearing aids have one processor. Horizon IX has two — so speech sounds crisp even in noisy rooms. See how with a 45-day, no-risk trial.
Most people think coffee just tastes like coffee. It doesn’t — think caramel & jasmine from Ethiopia, chocolate from Peru. Grocery brands blend, over-roast, and let it go stale. Atlas Coffee Club: single origins roasted after you order. Father’s Day sale: 1st bag free.
A giving app built around your values, not someone else’s priorities. Two daily causes based on what moves you. One tap, real results. Get $7 toward whatever you care about when you sign up.
Stop chasing streaks. Start speaking Spanish. It’s time to habla más and struggle menos. Move beyond “una cerveza más.” Book a free “Gringo Glow-Up” for a 1-on-1 assessment of your Spanish and a custom path to real conversations.
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.
Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.
2026-06-14 17:01:52
My sister has one of these Nightstick rechargeable floodlights and uses it for crawlspaces and poking around the yard after dark. It throws a strong beam — 600 lumens on high, 225 on low — and the single push-button switch is easy to find by feel. What makes it extra useful are the three built-in magnets and the detachable hook, which rotates 360 degrees so you can clamp it onto a pipe, car hood, or garage door and work hands-free. It recharges from either AC or DC power. — MF
I have recently been enjoying a tool I did not know I needed in my workshop. It’s a no-name high powered blower. When working in a shop, there is a constant need to clean away bits, sawdust, shavings, and other detritus that accumulate on a surface or tool. One blast from this and it is all sent to the floor. This replaces air hoses, or even other dedicated blowers because it fits onto any of the cordless batteries I already own, and because it is charged it is always handy. It also works for cleaning up patios and driveways. This delight in blowing stuff clean might be a dad thing. So I nominate this as a very dad-ish Father’s Day gift. Get one that fits his particular color batteries. — KK
Searchable Attenborough is a nature documentary archive that has indexed nearly 5,000 episodes across 90 of David Attenborough’s series. You can search by animal, habitat, location, natural phenomenon, or theme, and it accurately points you to the streaming service where you can watch. It feels like having direct access to learning about Earth and all its kingdoms. — CD
Far Out Company is a curated archive of 1960s–70s counterculture visual art — concert posters, TV shows, underground newspapers, commune newsletters, comix, hippie business advertisements, and album art. I love the DIY design aesthetic of this era: hand-lettered type, day-glo colors, psychedelic illustrations. Artists and designers like Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, and Milton Glaser were doing world-class work for free newspapers. It’s a good resource for design inspiration or a trippy rabbit hole to fall into. — MF
Kids are so naturally creative they should be our art teachers. And their creativity is boundless as long as you don’t hamper them by calling the assignment making “art.” It’s more fun than that. Those two premises enliven artist Austin Kleon’s newest book, Don’t Call It Art. Kleon’s mission is encouraging creativity in kids and adults by means of stories, reminders, examples, and bits of his own art. His little tome is charming and inspirational. — KK
I’ve been looking for a replacement Pomodoro app for over a year, ever since my old browser extension stopped being supported. After trying a few that all wanted subscriptions or felt too distracting, I finally found a truly free one called Breaks. It runs quietly in the Mac menu bar, is easy to use, and lets me customize my focus and break times. — CD
Mixily: Free Online RSVPs. You should stop using Evite or Eventbrite and try Mixily instead. No annoying ads and no spam to you or your guests. Digital invitations for your next party, neighborhood gathering, or meetup. Try it here at Mixily.com.
Sudowrite is the AI writing tool built for fiction writers. Beat writer’s block, punch up dialogue, and unstick scenes — fast. Writers who try it don’t go back. Start your free trial today.
Wispr Flow is voice-to-text AI that turns your speech into clean, polished writing in any app. It’s 4x faster than typing, automatically fixes filler words and typos, and adjusts tone per app. Works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android. Try it free.
Stop overpaying on Amazon. 11 practical ways to spot real deals — price alerts, hidden coupons, warehouse discounts, and more.
The Comet Browser from Perplexity bakes AI into everything you do online. It compares deals, summarizes articles and videos, drafts emails, manages your calendar, and groups tabs with plain language. Try Pro free for a month.
Recomendo Unclassified Ads work! Reach over 128,000 subscribers for just $350.
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.
Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.
2026-06-07 17:02:07
Mechanical-pencil.com reminds me of the Way Things Work book I loved as a kid, but with 3D animations that make it even more illuminating. Mechanical engineer and artist Bryan Macomber tears down familiar objects — a Pilot G2 retractable pen, a Zippo lighter, a Pez dispenser, a BIC mechanical pencil — and walks you through how each one works, part by part. Watching the push-push mechanism inside a clicky pen click into place is genuinely satisfying. I hope Bryan keeps adding to this series. — MF
Storied Colors is nerdy and delightful. More than 250 colors are indexed and searchable so you can read the stories behind their origin, chemistry and use. This is especially meaningful to me because not only do I pride myself on knowing the various names for different shades of color, but when I was a young weird kid, instead of playing with dolls, I would play with my box of crayons as characters, assigning personalities based on their color. Color has always been a portal to the imaginal for me, rather than just a simple tint. There’s a mention on their website of an upcoming newsletter version that you can sign up for. — CD
The hosts of a great podcast we have featured on Recomendo before, Acquired, conclude each of their 3-hour episodes about legendary companies with several personal recommendations each. These could be any apps, books, destinations, shows, apparel, or devices they have personally enjoyed in the last month. They have good taste, lots of variety and a wide range, over their 10-year run. This sounds familiar! They call these reviews, “carve outs” (not connected to the show’s topic) but they are really Acquired’s version of Recomendo. I’ve found some good stuff this way. — KK
I’ve been wearing the RingConn Gen 3 and the Oura Ring 4 side by side for over a week, and their core tracking is nearly identical — sleep profiles, heart rate, and other vital signs all line up closely between the two. So on accuracy, it’s basically a wash. But I prefer the RingConn for two reasons: it doesn’t charge a $6/month subscription to see your own data, and it lets you export that data — neither of which Oura allows. The RingConn also has vibration alerts for a low battery, too much sitting, and other health nudges (you can silence them while sleeping). The one thing Oura does better: a small dimple that lets you orient the sensors toward your palm. The RingConn lacks that, so it sometimes rotates, and I’m not sure it’s reading accurately. — MF
Obsessive effort spent on ridiculous memes, over-the-top projects about stupid things, absurd seriousness about nonsense. Also meticulous craftsmanship at scale: these are the hallmarks of art projects by Sunday Nobody, a young “meme artist” who posts on YouTube and Instagram. For a recent example of his gonzo projects, watch his Taco Bell Funeral. To finance his performances he sells limited editions of his very collectable art. His real art is the whole nerdy process. — KK
Johnny Webber put together a great list of resources for anyone contemplating purchasing or building their own Writer Deck, a single-purpose, distraction-free writing device. I still use my AlphaSmart Neo2, which I recommended in 2019 when you could still find them super cheap on Amazon, and the tactile keyboard feels so satisfying to type on while the battery life lasts for months and months. Someday I might invest in a newly made writer deck, but for now this works. — CD
Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message — a UCSD physics professor’s free weekly newsletter on cosmology, AI, and ideas that matter. From the host of Into the Impossible. No dumbing down, no clickbait. Join 30,000+ curious minds who want the frontier, not the headline. Subscribe free.
You know that task hanging over your head? The one you know you could do, but you can’t bring yourself to complete? Hire a fractional support person through Sidecar! We help business owners & individuals get more done and feel lighter in the process. Call us! We got you!
Everyone’s chasing tech. Meanwhile, film bridge loans quietly deliver double-digit yields backed by real assets. Tax credits, distribution contracts, completion bonds. Short duration. Hard collateral. Worth a look. From our friends at Alts.co. Learn more
Track Recovery, Sleep & Stress with Hume Band v2. AI-powered insights for better recovery, wellness, and longevity.
Stop winging it in meetings. The MasterClass On Call desktop app is the AI coaching tool that helps you lead with confidence on every call. Get live guidance during calls and clear feedback after. Turn every meeting into a step toward the career you’re building.
Ever wonder what websites, apps, or newsletters actually sell for? Evernomic Confidential covers deal analysis and market trends, written by people who buy and sell companies. Start your free trial.
Recomendo Unclassified Ads work! Reach over 127,000 subscribers for just $350.
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.
Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.
2026-05-31 17:02:09
I copied this essay’s idea of an at‑home writing retreat by creating a loose schedule of deep‑work, time‑blocked writing between breaks for reading, meditating, walking my dog, lunch, and body care. What would have been a regular, aimless Saturday of half‑finished chores and movies turned into a day that felt both relaxing and genuinely productive at the same time. It surprised me how intentionally breaking my normal rhythm, even inside my own house, could leave me feeling like I’d been somewhere new mentally and physically. — CD
The Kodak Charmera is a thumb-sized digital camera that clips onto your keychain and shoots gloriously lo-fi 1.6-megapixel photos and video. My daughter has been taking amazing shots with it — the grainy, slightly washed-out images have a nostalgic, early-2000s digicam vibe that mocks the clinical perfection of phone cameras. One catch: without a microSD card, it only stores two photos, so buy a cheap card to make it truly useful. Young people are embracing these tiny cameras, maybe out of childhood nostalgia. Check out the r/toycameras subreddit for inspiring photos from the Charmera and other little cameras. — MF
Two of my favorite new podcasts are produced by co-authors of one of the most notable books of last year, Abundance. The book argues for dynamic governance and a liberalism that builds stuff. Each author now has their own podcast. The Ezra Klein Show is in your standard interview format, but with an unexpected range of subjects, all cast through Klein’s sharp mind and extensive background. The conversations are reliably good. Derek Thompson’s Plain English show is a scripted narrative that researches interesting questions. His episodes are more like an audible magazine with more than one interviewee. I rate my podcasts on how often they surprise me, and Plain English is usually surprising. — KK
A common parenting challenge when traveling or visiting with small children: a bib is too bulky to carry around, but meals without it are a mess. First world solution: disposable bibs. Light, cheap, does the job, toss when done. $7 for 20. — KK
Cosmos is a visual search engine like Pinterest, except it’s ad‑free (right now), which makes it a quieter, calmer place to gather and collect thematic images. There are no likes or comments, so it feels less like social media and more like a private gallery for drafting up mood boards and visual worlds. — CD
My father kept recommending Frans G. Bengtsson’s novel The Long Ships to me, but I kept putting it off. As soon as I started reading it, I was enthralled. This 1941 Swedish classic follows Red Orm, a Danish boy abducted by Vikings, through galley slavery, Moorish Spain, battles in England, and treasure hunts along Russian rivers. It’s funny, exciting, and endlessly inventive. If you liked Game of Thrones, Edgar Rice Burroughs, or Jack Vance, you’ll probably love it too. Novelist Michael Chabon, who wrote the introduction, says he’s only ever met three other people who knew the book — and all of them, like him, “loved it immoderately.” — MF
Revue Collé is a weekly exploration into the world of contemporary collage — the most forward-thinking artists, delivered every Wednesday. Sign-up for Colle’s weekly newsletter.
The Japan or Die Newsletter. Join 4,000+ readers for weekly dispatches on all things Japan, including B-class gourmet, izakaya culture, cool neighborhoods, insider advice on things to try, places to stay & simple words that will change your whole experience. Sign up here.
Homeowners using Rafter save $847 and 30+ hours a year — it works like a tireless advisor for your home. Monitors your home, handles maintenance, finds vetted contractors, and files your insurance credits - automatically. Try free for 3 months.
Sudowrite is the AI writing tool built for fiction writers. Beat writer’s block, punch up dialogue, and unstick scenes — fast. Writers who try it don’t go back. Start your free trial today.
Wispr Flow is voice-to-text AI that turns your speech into clean, polished writing in any app. It’s 4x faster than typing, automatically fixes filler words and typos, and adjusts tone per app. Works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android. Try it free.
Recomendo Unclassified Ads work! Reach over 127,000 subscribers for just $350.
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.
Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.
2026-05-24 17:02:14
Most sources of AI-generated content do not warrant a second visit. The only AI-generated content I have been returning to are two YouTube channels that use AI to reconstruct history. The first one, Majestic Studios, recreates daily life in now legendary ancient cities as seen through time. I learned a lot, for instance, by following the development of Paris from 259 BC till the present. This same creator (a British bloke, Jonathan Laramime) created a synthetic character named Chloe, styled as an influencer in LA, who pretends to be a time-travelling tourist. Chloe is very believable. She wanders the streets in ancient times taking selfies and being wowed by the cultural norms. Chloe’s valley girl reactions to the ancient world is accessible and entertaining, but also historically accurate, which has made the channel Chloe VS History a viral hit. Recreating history is the perfect job for AI, and I expect these channels to be the first of many, as other history buffs create their own improved versions. — KK
I bought the Desperate Oasis card game solely because the retro design is gorgeous — vintage orange-and-cream illustrations of camels, scorpions, jackals, and chameleons that look like they were pulled from a 1920s matchbook art. The fact that it’s actually fun to play is a bonus. Two players battle for control of five desert oases by playing animal cards on either side, using palm trees to boost values, and triggering special powers (the Deathstalker Scorpion destroys the weakest card; three Jackals create a bonus space). A round takes about 15 minutes, and a full game is three rounds. — MF
Every weekend I set out to figure out what’s in theaters that I can also watch from home. But between all the streaming services and web directories, I end up spending more time searching than watching. JustWatch.com used to solve this for me, but lately it feels complicated and sometimes inaccurate. It’s a made-up problem that doesn’t really matter but is genuinely annoying. My current fix is this IMDB list of theatrical releases you can stream or rent, and it seems to actually stay updated. — CD
Chinamaxxing is fashionable right now. One guy moved his family from America to China and gives an account of how much it costs to live in the middle class in China. His video report, “I Left the US for Shenzhen, China – Here’s How Much it Costs” ignores all the political aspects of living in China and merely focuses on the economic. Right now very few westerners will want to make the political tradeoffs to move to China, but this report will reveal a bit about how middle class Chinese are actually living, and gives a more realistic portrait of China today. — KK
Uproot Excavator is a YouTube channel devoted entirely to one thing: tree stumps being yanked out of the ground by heavy equipment. The arm of an excavator, fitted with a pincer-like attachment, clamps onto a stump, rips it out along with a massive clump of roots that must weigh several hundred pounds, shakes the dirt loose, and sets the whole thing aside next to a fresh crater in the earth. That’s it. Hundreds of short videos, all basically the same removal over and over. I find it weirdly hypnotic and deeply satisfying to watch. — MF
This Reddit thread asks what a person can learn in 10 minutes that will be useful for life, and the top-voted answer is using your hand span, thumb to pinky, as a built-in measuring tool. Mine is 7 inches, which I will now never forget. The other favorites in the thread are worth sharing for your relationships and your nervous system: "Never explain yourself to people committed to misunderstanding you." Before responding in an argument, scan your body and take a slow nasal breath to notice fight or flight before you speak. Then speak calmly. "'No, I can't' is a full sentence. You don't owe anyone a 10-minute TED Talk about why." — CD
Sudowrite is the AI writing tool built for fiction writers. Beat writer’s block, punch up dialogue, and unstick scenes — fast. Writers who try it don’t go back. Start your free trial today.
Wispr Flow is voice-to-text AI that turns your speech into clean, polished writing in any app. It’s 4x faster than typing, automatically fixes filler words and typos, and adjusts tone per app. Works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android. Try it free.
Stop overpaying on Amazon. 11 practical ways to spot real deals — price alerts, hidden coupons, warehouse discounts, and more.
The Comet Browser from Perplexity bakes AI into everything you do online. It compares deals, summarizes articles and videos, drafts emails, manages your calendar, and groups tabs with plain language. Try Pro free for a month.
If you want to copy text on your computer that you can’t copy, such as error messages, screenshots, PDFs, or Kindle Cloud reader pages, get this $4 optical character recognition utility called TextSniper. It lets you grab uncopyable text that’s on your display and save it as plain text to the clipboard. (It also reads QR and barcodes.)
Recomendo Unclassified Ads work! Reach over 126,000 subscribers for just $350.
Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.
Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.